Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Assistance or Ascendancy

Lately, I've found myself discussing the aspects of philanthropists and Western Aid to the Third World. I, myself, have never trusted any charitable foundation in my life. As a kid, it confused me to see people asking for Aid money, to also be wearing expensive clothing/jewelery and driving fancy cars. All I would see are saddening images on television, showing children and families suffering. It is sad, how we, in the western world are given everything we need and are still able to become upset because we are unable to receive everything that we want.

You have people such as Bill Gates, the Walton family, who are some of the richest people in the world, and whose individual earnings could solve the majority of the world's poverty, yet, the majority of the world remain in poverty. Someone put the entire situation into a very suitable perspective for me: "There are charitable foundations, for instance, that receive millions of dollars. They use the money to buy seeds and pay for a hundred people or so to go to Africa or where ever and plant seeds and grow trees. Many people have responded to this sort of aid with the following words: "F*** you, we know how to plant seeds. Give us the aid money so we can buy our own seeds and have food, water, and electricity, etc."

Logically, there is a lot more that can be done. Simply put, the Western World has drained every third World nation of it's resources, exploiting them for their own corporate benefit. There are actually, constructive things that can be done all across our planet, other than building an illegal and inhumane wall that separates Palestine from Israel, other than currently spending our money on an occupation.

The problem with Charities and the Western World giving financial aid directly to Leaders of Third World nations is that, like our leaders, they are corrupt and greedy. But people can empower people. People are the power, the functioning body of every nation, where ever it is in the world. Sadly, the people do not have control over the power, which is why corruption is everywhere. Here is a quote from Tupac Shakur "Why does the white house need 45 rooms when there are homeless people living on the streets?"

Here is a link that I think reflects humorously upon the western world and its treatment of the rest of the world.